When we were visiting my in-laws in Iowa this summer, there were some particularly unpleasant grandchildren visiting at the same time. No, not my grandchildren! These were twin boys that have a pretty obnoxious behavior problem, and it surfaced when my grandson happened to find a toad that had been making its way across the driveway towards the neighbor’s house. Garrett, bless his heart, was desperately trying to keep the toad away from the twins, and the twins were after Garrett like two little rabid dogs. These boys are around 7 years old, not babies. My grandson eventually was able to turn the toad loose without any harm coming to it, but the sight of those two boys after the toad stuck in my mind.

It seems to me that right now blogging is one of the fads of the moment, and there seems to be a tier of “real” bloggers, “semi-real” bloggers, and then the “rest of us”. I am pleasantly surprised and proud that I have even gotten my first blog Pentimento up to a page rank 4. Who knows if it will stay there, but I keep working at it.

The real blogs like John Chow, Dosh Dosh, Copyblogger, Blog About Your Blog, Liz Strauss @ Successful Blog, and Blog-Op to name just a tiny few, have real things to say that are helpful when it comes to making money online. And that is that key, isn’t it? The ones first in, online and known, with lots of networked friends have done very well. They had something to say and impart.

Then came the second wave….the people who found out that blogging is something easily done if you can get one set up. But what to say? Talk about your cats, kids, or be a gossip about celebrities. Some of the second-wavers are doing well too. But it all makes me think of those twin boys who saw an opportunity, but had no clue what they were going to do with it once they had it.

What will be the next fad? Is blogging here to stay? Are the majority of people making money at it? Will it still be ‘fun’ in 5 years? Are we really telling people worthwhile things, or just blathering on? What do you think? Are you the leader of the pack, or just one of the rabid dogs?